Another day, another George R. R. Martin news story that is not the announcement of the next book in his A Song Of Ice And Fire series. Once again dashing the hopes of anyone whose Google Alerts notify them regarding any developments involving Westeros, Deadline reports that Milla Jovovich is in talks to headline In The Lost Lands, an adaptation of three fantasy adventure stories penned by Martin. This will mark the first time the author’s work has been adapted for the big screen outside of HBO’s Game Of Thrones, not counting the hundreds of fan fiction videos which envision a magical world where Martin actually finishes his goddamn series.
A description of In The Lost Lands’ plot reveals the stories being adapted, all of which can be found in Martin’s short story compendium Dreamsongs: Volume 1. The first story shares the film’s title, about a sorceress (Jovovich) hired by a desperate queen to obtain the power of shape-shifting, a power that would come in handy when, say, hiding from millions of fans awaiting your next book. The second story, about a warrior girl who must fight a dragon in order to reunite with her lost lover, is drawn from “The Lonely Songs Of Laren Dorr.” And the final third is “Bitterblooms,” about a young barbarian girl who gets spellbound by a witch in a spacecraft, which sounds like a story that resulted from Martin betting someone he could mashup the myth of Athena with Event Horizon.
Co-starring Justin Chatwin, the film is being written and directed by Constantin Werner, a German director with only a couple credits to his name, but whose last film, The Pagan Queen, currently enjoys a 3.4 rating on IMDB. In The Lost Lands is scheduled to begin production in the fall, and Martin is scheduled to continue doing anything other than finishing A Song Of Ice And Fire.